China threatens U.S. with missile strike

By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES

China stepped up its war of words over Taiwan yesterday, bluntly threatening to fire long-range nuclear missiles at the United States if it defends the island. The warning, published in the official People's Liberation Army newspaper, comes as a U.S. aircraft carrier and two cruise-missile destroyers recently began exercises off Japan. Defense officials said the warships could be sent to the Taiwan Strait in a crisis. The official military newspaper, Liberation Army Daily, stated in a commentary made public in Beijing that U.S. intervention in a conflict between China and Taiwan would result in "serious damage" to U.S. security interests in Asia. The military then warned that China could resort to long-range missile attacks on the United States during a regional conflict. "China is neither Iraq nor Yugoslavia but a very special country," the newspaper stated. While China is a permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations, "on the other hand, it is a country that has certain abilities of launching strategic counterattack and the capacity of launching a long-distance strike," the article said. "It is not a wise move to be at war with a country such as China, a point which the U.S. policy-makers know fairly well also," the newspaper said. "The U.S. military will even be forced to [make] a complete withdrawal from the East Asian region, as they were forced to withdraw from southern Vietnam in those days," the paper said. The article was unusually harsh, according to Pentagon officials familiar with the translation, and echoed a private warning made in 1995 by Chinese Lt. Gen. Xiong Guangkai. Gen. Xiong, the PLA's top intelligence and foreign policy official, told a former Pentagon official at that time that Washington would not help defend Taiwan because it cared more about Los Angeles than Taiwan. The remark was reported to the White House as a threat to use nuclear weapons. China's nuclear arsenal currently includes about 24 CSS-4 long-range missiles that are capable of hitting most of the United States with warheads of up to 5 megatons  the equivalent of 5 million tons of TNT. It is building two other road-mobile ICBMs and a new class of strategic missile submarines. One U.S. official said PLA threats appeared to be a response to statements made last week by Walter Slocombe, undersecretary of defense for policy. Mr. Slocombe told reporters China would suffer "incalculable consequences" if it attacked the island. Mr. Slocombe's statement also brought a complaint from some pro-China officials at the White House and State Department who objected to the Pentagon's tough stance. Meanwhile, several ships from the carrier battle group led by the USS Kitty Hawk began conducting exercises in the Pacific on Wednesday  two days after Beijing issued an ominous written warning that it will use force against Taiwan if the island continues to delay reunification with the mainland. Pentagon officials said privately the carrier deployment is part of U.S. diplomatic efforts to discourage China from conducting threatening war games, as occurred in 1996 around the time of Taiwan's first presidential elections. A senior military official said the carrier exercises were scheduled weeks ago. However, the official noted that carriers in the past have been used to send diplomatic signals. "Timing is everything in these things," the official said. The ships are deployed in waters east of central Japan. The ship will be at sea for 12 days before returning to its home port of Yokosuka, Japan. Officially, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Terry Sutherland said the Kitty Hawk is engaged in "general quarters" training after spending months in port in Japan. The deployment is not related to the release of China's white paper or the upcoming Taiwanese presidential elections, he said. However, asked if the battle group could be called into action in a Taiwan crisis, Cmdr. Sutherland said: "Sure. That's the purpose of forward-deployed carriers." The Chinese government on Feb. 21 released a "white paper" threatening, again, to use force against Taiwan if it seeks formal independence. The paper stated that Beijing will use "all drastic measures possible, including the use of force." "Any attempt to separate Taiwan from China through the so-called referendum would only lead the Taiwan people to disaster," the report said. U.S. Ambassador Joseph Prue- her sought to play down the threat contained in the white paper. "The white paper has a lot of good things, from our point of view, to say, like stressing peaceful unification and the like, and only one sentence adding a condition under which force would be used," Adm. Prueher said in a speech here. Asked if the white paper is tied to the recent unsuccessful high-level visit to Beijing by Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and other senior U.S. officials, Adm. Prueher said: "I was in that room during the talks and China never mentioned anything about a white paper. Did the visit trigger the white paper, I don't know. It might have, it might not have." Adm. Dennis Blair, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, is now in Beijing and, according to unnamed U.S. officials, discussed Taiwan in meetings today with senior Chinese military leaders. On Monday, the admiral met Lt. Gen. Xiong Guangkai for "a wide exchange of views on international and regional security and bilateral relations," China's state-run Xinhua News Agency said. Lt. Gen. Xiong is a deputy chief of the general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and a key voice in making Taiwan policy. Adm. Blair also met Shi Yunsheng, commander in chief of China's naval forces, Xinhua said. "It was a chance for everyone to get to know each other," a U.S. official told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. "The atmosphere was very cordial. I think the Chinese want to succeed in re-establishing a military-to-military relationship." Taiwan was discussed, along with other Asian security concerns, the official said. The U.S. side also repeated "its concern about the white paper" in which China last week threatened Taiwan, he said. The Pentagon spokesman's com- ment about making the Kitty Hawk available in a crisis in the Taiwan Strait is further than a senior State Department official would go. Susan Shirk, deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia, wrote an unofficial electronic message to a group of California academics recently saying the carrier will not be sent to the region. "Want to let everyone know that one carrier, the Kitty Hawk, is engaged in routine training off the coast of Japan, no intention to move near the Strait, nothing to do with Taiwan, white paper, etc.," Miss Shirk wrote. The statement angered some in the Pentagon because it undermined efforts by Adm. Blair and others to discourage China from conducting war games in the next few weeks. One official said the e-mail was "potentially dangerous" because it was an official statement by a senior official. "It could be viewed [by the Chinese] as a green light to attack Taiwan," the official said. In March 1996, Chinese military forces conducted large-scale exercises near Taiwan that included short-range M-9 missile launches north and south of Taiwan. U.S. officials said the exercises were a bid to intimidate voters on the island. China's latest threats against Taiwan also come against the backdrop of a presidential campaign that includes discussions about declaring formal independence. The Taiwanese are set for their second presidential election March 18.

-- (@ .), February 29, 2000

Answers

N. Korea conceals new missile launchers in underground bases

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM Tuesday, February 29, 2000

TOKYO -- North Korea has established up to six missile launch units, despite an agreement with the United States to suspend new ballistic missile tests, South Korea says.

South Korea's national Yonhap news agency quoted a military official in Seoul as saying North Korea has formed 4-6 missile battalions stationed in underground bases.

Last year, Pyongyang pledged to suspend plans to test-launch the new Taepo Dong-2 missile, with a reported range of more than 4,000 kilometers. The pledge came in exchange of U.S. aid.

But U.S. officials acknowledged that Pyongyang has not terminated development of the Taepo Dong-2 and plans to eventually export the missile to foreign countries, particularly Middle East clients.

The assertion comes as the United States and North Korea plan to continue steps to improve relations. Officials said both countries want to establish liaison offices to normalize relations. Delegations from the two countries plan to meet in Washington in March.

"If negotiations go well, it may be possible this year for liaison offices to be set up in Pyongyang and Washington," South Korea's Unification Minister Park Jae Kyu said Sunday.

On Monday, North Korea vowed to cooperate with Russia to oppose U.S. plans for a national missile defense system. The [North] Korean Central News Agency said the agreement between Moscow and Pyongyang came during a visit by Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to Pyongyang earlier this month.

In another development, South Korea's Korea's Yonhap news agency said North Korea and Australia have reached an agreement in principle to normalize diplomatic ties and convene high-level talks in Australia in the second half of this year. The agreement was reached during a visit to Pyongyang by a four-member Australian delegation last week.

-- (@ .), February 29, 2000.

i'd just like to say before i go...

-- theres (no1@home.duck), February 29, 2000.

Gertz is CIA. No kidding.

-- NOT THIS TIME! (huh?@uh.uh), February 29, 2000.

..... don't AAAASk me HOW I know .....

-- NOT THIS TIME! (huh?@uh.uh), February 29, 2000.

... this from our harmless new neighbors in Panama? How rude!

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), February 29, 2000.